Higher Education Minister K.T. Jaleel has borrowed a quote by former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to defend himself in the mark moderation scam at Mahatma Gandhi University.
The Minister said: “You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks,” to drive home the point that the government would not bow down to unfair criticism on the issue.
Mr. Jaleel challenged Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala to reveal the contents of Governor Arif Mohammed Khan’s report on the scam in response to Mr. Chennithala’s claim that the Governor had made adverse remarks against him.
At a seminar on technical education here on Saturday, Mr. Jaleel said that some people were coming up with wild allegations as they could not recognise the State’s achievements in the higher education sector. He said that universities introduced adalats after realising that the future of students were caught in red tape.
The system of granting internal marks went through a lot of change after that. Mr. Jaleel claimed that some people were seen “wailing” as generation-old precedents were being broken. The government, however, would not run away fearing criticism, but march towards its goals, Mr. Jaleel said.
He said the higher education sector was a model for the rest of the country. Incidents such as the suicides of Rohit Vemula and Fathima Latheef, and the disappearance of Najeeb showed that Kerala was a safe place for students. “Those who do not recognise this fact are coming up with allegations against me,” the Minister claimed.
Mr. Jaleel also alleged that some people who wanted to help the education lobby in other States might be behind the criticism against higher education reforms. Unfortunately, a section of teachers too were supporting these moves. The government found this criticism as a response to its effective intervention in the sector, Mr. Jaleel added.
